Home of Carolina Circle Mall

As you recall in the about section, the Carousel Era was the era I grew up with.

From 1988 to about 1996, the Carousel Era was just like the Ice Rink Era in that it had its own unique specialties. From a tasty food court to a colorful color scheme, the Carousel Era brought much new life into the mall.

Unfortunately, I have noticed that the Carousel Era is underappreciated. The biggest problem people have with this era is the fact that when they removed the ice rink and replaced the carousel, the mall immediately began going down the toilet. However, this is what they don't normally tell you.

Upon the completion of the renovation in the late '80s, many stores that had closed in the Ice Rink Era returned. And I am sure many people have there memories of the Carousel Era.

Let's take a look at the magnificent Carousel Era.

Cory Maiden took this picture of the carousel in the early '90s.

At a cost of a whopping $250,000, this custom built carousel attracted many people (like me) to the mall in the late '80s and '90s. The carousel was located in the lower portion of the food court.

Riding the carousel was a must for me every time I visited the mall. I would always sit in those round spinning carts that you could turn. Believe me, you need more than one person to turn one of those things.

The carousel was unfortunately dismantled in either 1996 or 1997. I was mad for awhile, but I got over it to face the mall's wanning years in the late '90s and early '00s.

This 1989 picture of the mall perfectly illustrates the mall's interior design during the Carousel Era. Pictuer courtesy of Greensboro News & Record.

As you can see, the mall's main color was lime green and unpictured pink. The columns were made of mirror and included baby blue lights at the top.

This is an artistic rendering of the bottom of the columns. The blue portions of the columns were made out of tiles and I was definately not going to render those.

This is what the majority of the walls looked like.

Travis Trotter sent me this 2002 picture of the food court from after the mall closed.

Many restaurants/attractions that surrounded the Ice Rink during the Ice Rink Era made their way into the Carousel Era, but the trick is that they were under different names.

• Electronic America became the Tilt Arcade.
• New York Pizza became Gatto Pizza.
  

However, several new restaurants opened during the Carousel Era including...

• Circle Cafe & Deli (Replaced by Subs & Spuds around 1995)
• Mr. Wok Chinese Restaurant
• Monk's Cheesesteaks & Cheeseburgers
• Taco Bell (Only lasted about 5 seconds sometime around 1995 or 1996)